Nov. 02, 2011
Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1979
michael.j.braukus@nasa.gov
RELEASE: 11-359
NASA ANNOUNCES NEW ADVISORY COUNCIL CHAIRMAN
WASHINGTON -- NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has named Cornell
University Astronomy Professor Steven W. Squyres, as chairman of the
NASA Advisory Council (NAC), an assembly of experts from various
fields that offer guidance and policy advice to the administrator of
America's space agency.
"I am extremely excited that Steve has accepted the NAC chairmanship,"
Bolden said. "His experience as a planetary science researcher with
many NASA robotic missions will be of great value to the council. The
knowledge and experience of the council's members, such as Steve's,
is a vital component of the group. They will be of tremendous value
as we go forward, planning to go beyond low-Earth orbit."
Dr. Squyres succeeds Dr. Kenneth Ford, the founder and director of the
Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition, who has served as
council chairman since October 2008. Squyres previously served on the
council during the 1990's, and he also served as chairman of the
former NASA Space Science Advisory Committee.
In October 2011, Squyres participated as an aquanaut in a unique 5-day
undersea expedition in the Florida Keys that simulated a future human
mission to an asteroid, taking the first steps toward learning how to
conduct asteroid exploration by humans. He was a member of the 15th
NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) team of six
researchers that lived and worked underwater in Aquarius, a school
bus-sized laboratory sitting on the seabed near Key Largo, Fla., at a
depth of 60 feet. NASA's goal is to send a human mission to an
asteroid by 2025. The NEEMO expedition was originally planned for
13-day duration, but ended earlier than planned due to Hurricane
Rina.
Squyres' scientific research focuses on the robotic exploration of
planetary surfaces, the history of water on Mars, geophysics and
tectonics of icy satellites, tectonics of Venus, and planetary
gamma-ray and X-ray spectroscopy. His best known research includes
the study of the history and distribution of water on Mars and of the
possible existence and habitability of a liquid water ocean on
Europa.
Squyres has participated in a number of NASA planetary missions
including Voyager, Magellan, and the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.
He currently is the scientific principal investigator for the Mars
Exploration Rover mission, which includes the Spirit and Opportunity
rovers. He also is a co-investigator on the Mars Express mission and
the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Squyres is a member of the Mars
Odyssey mission and the Cassini mission to Saturn.
In 1981, Squyres earned a Ph.D. in planetary science from Cornell
University.
For more information about the NASA Advisory Council, visit:
http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/oer/nac
-end-